Advanced User Management for Ruby, Rails and Sinatra

by Claire Hunsakeron August 8 2013

The MegaGem!!

OK. Its not really called the MegaGem, but it should be. The Stormpath Ruby SDK combines the good stuff you like in Devise and CanCan, sprinkles in LDAP integration, and hosts everything securely in the cloud so you don’t have to maintain it. The new release also has advanced performance features, and it makes building an advanced user infrastructure in Ruby very very easy.

What does Stormpath do for Ruby? Stormpath securely hosts user accounts in the cloud, providing all of the authentication, password security, user workflows, group and role functionality for your application. When a user logs into your system, you make an API call to the Stormpath service and receive a JSON payload with all the authorization information for that user. Stormpath also integrates with on-premise systems like LDAP, so you can access those directories easily without meddling with security policies or complicated protocols. Any developer can use the core API for free.

What’s New:

STORMPATH SAMPLE APPS FOR RUBY, RAILS AND SINATRA

There are now several new sample applications you can use to get started quickly with Stormpath:

A CLI, which connects to Stormpath and verifies that resources can be obtained from your tenant.

A reference web application built with Sinatra, demonstrating how the Ruby SDK allows you to easily interact with the Stormpath API.

A Rails web application featuring lazy-loaded, Stormpath-augmented user models. Log in, create users, and modify them with complete source code to get you up and running in minutes.

NEW RAILS INTEGRATION FOR STORMPATH

Along with upgrading Ruby Gem, we also gave the Rails gem all the new features.

APPLICATION-SPECIFIC ENDPOINTS

For developers running only one application with Stormpath, maybe because they are deployed on a PaaS like Heroku, the SDKs now also connect to our Application-specific endpoints. This provides access to accounts and groups from your application’s perspective as opposed to your whole tenant’s, and will make deploying a single app a piece of cake.

CACHING Plugin for REDIS

Caching reduces the latency in your application by minimizing the calls to our server. Increasing performance in your application leads to happier users.

OMNIAUTH INTEGRATION

Integration allows OmniAuth to use the Stormpath SDK

REFACTOR

We heard from early users that the SDK felt like “Ruby with a heavy Java accent,” so the update also includes a major refactor to bring it in line with Ruby style and syntax. We also updated all the instructions and docs.

REST SEARCH

The Ruby SDK can now search for most resources in Stormpath using our query API, so it’s easy, for instance, to search for an account or directory by name.

REST RESOURCE (LINK) EXPANSION

The SDK can now retrieve a resource with its linked (referenced) resources in one API call, e.g. get an account and its groups.

PAGINATION

Collection results are now paginated with easier control. We’ve also made a number of additional performance upgrades to the SDK, as well as some bug fixes.

If you are using the old Ruby SDK, never fear! We will continue to support it (and you).

Finally, this awesomeness would not have been possible without the team at Carbon Five, who translated all that is wonderful about our Java SDK into Ruby, Rails, and Sinatra, and taught our team a lot in the process. It was great to work with such a smart and capable team. Thanks to Rudy, Erin, Boram, and Christian.

Stormpath is a User Management API that reduces development time with instant-on, scalable user infrastructure. Stormpath's intuitive API and expert support make it easy for developers to authenticate, manage and secure users and roles in any application.